DIY Upcycled Vintage Fabric and Leather Half Chain Martingale Collar

Hey everyone! A while back I shared how to make a martingale collar with you all. A martingale collar is a lot of times used as a training collar. We use them for our italian greyhounds since they are the one collar they can’t back out of. I’ve made several martingales for Beau in the past. They are super easy and totally customized to your dog’s neck. Today I am going to show you how to make a martingale with a half chain out of a belt and some fabric. Here’s my how-to:

What You Need:

*Half Martingale Chain (I bought mine Here)

*Old Leather Belt

*Vintage Fabric

*Basting Spray

*Sewing Machine and Heavy Duty Thread

*Leather Punch

*Rivets

*Hammer

*Measuring Tape

Instructions:

First you need to measure your dogs neck. Measure around the neck behind the ears. Add two inches to that measurement. Cut your fabric to the same measurement as the neck measurement and add an inch for turning under for the length. Make the measurement for the width a little under the width of the belt plus a little for turning under. So if my belt is 2″ wide, I would make my fabric 1 and 1/4″ wide plus 1″ for turning under, so 2 and 1/4″.

Iron the top and bottom under towards the backside of the fabric by 1/2″ on each side. Then, turn under the sides by 1/2″.

Spray the back side of your fabric with basting spray. Center the fabric on top of the leather and smooth down.

Stitch the fabric down to the leather all the way around by machine close to the edge as possible. Clip excess threads.

Cut the leather at the ends to fit the width of your chain rings. I had to trim mine down to 3/4″

Punch a hole in the center of the end of your end about 3/8″ from the edge. Fit the end around the ring. Mark the hole where it needs to go on the center of the thick part.

 

Wrap the leather end around the ring on one side. Load a rivet through the hole you punched and hammer the rivet down completely. Wrap the other end around the other side ring on the chain and load a rivet on. Hammer down the other rivet. And that’s it, you’ve got a new collar for your pooch!

I totally love the new leather collars I made for Beau and Sadie! I was able to make two out of the same belt with plenty left over. It was even easier than the ones I usually make with webbing. So far they have held up nicely. If you want to make them extra strong you can add extra rivets or stitching. You can keep them even simpler by just using the belt without stitching the fabric to them. I always like adding fabric to mine, especially when it’s vintage feedsack cowboys! I hope all you dog lovers out there will give this one a try sometime. I’ll be back soon with another fun project. Until then….

Happy Crafting!

*Photographs by Kim Crenshaw Photography